Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Shadow Institute
by Setander
Summary: I don't even know. I got bored one afternoon, so I decided to write this. Kaiba's been threatened by a new 'gaming company', and has been away for a month to deal with it. Now, they've started kidnapping people, including Mokuba, Tea and Tristan, and it's up to Yugi, Kaiba and Joey to breach their HQ and duel not just for their friends' freedom, but for theirs as well!
1. The Beginning!

**Yu-Gi-Oh! - The Shadow Institute**

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_I mean, WHY NOT make a mediocre Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic and put it on the Internet for everybody to ridicule me with? What could possibly go wrong?_

_Eheheh...anyway...our story begins with Yugi and Joey talking about a new building that just opened right near the Game Shop. So, let's jump right in. Fasten your seatbelts, and set your phasers to DISAPPOINT as we begin!_

"See, Yugi, I don't entirely trust it. I mean, it has no signs, no windows, not even any decent colours! Seems fishy, if you ask me..." Joey leaned back in his chair and stared out of the window. He and his friend Yugi were discussing a new office-like building that had opened a few streets away. The builders had worked on it for just a few weeks - they'd seemed rushed. However, the actual building seemed to be of a higher quality than Joey had seen anywhere else. It was a masterpiece of a building.

Yugi leaned forward and put his arms on the table. "You worry too much Joey. It's fine. It's just a normal office building. There are loads of them in the centre. What makes this one so different?"

"I don't know...I still don't trust it..."

"Oh never mind. Hey, look at the time! We have to go to my Grandpa's Game Shop to help him with the new stock!" Yugi grabbed his bag and ran out of the room. Joey stood up and went after him. They ran outside to a lovely afternoon. The sun was out, there were barely any clouds, it was perfect. Not perfect for running, however, and pretty soon Yugi and Joey were exhausted. They arrived at the Game Shop about 10 minutes late, and they knew that they were in for it.

"Where exactly have you two been?" asked Solomon, tapping the handle of a rather short broom.

"Lay off us, man. We've just ran for at least 15 minutes! Now where are these boxes?" replied Joey.

"Fine. Whatever. The new stock is just outside. Big boxes, can't miss them."

Yugi and Joey walked outside and found the boxes. They began to lift them (Joey trying to hide the pain of lifting some rather heavy objects) and were soon halfway done. Yugi was grabbing another box when he saw a figure in the distance. "Hey Joey, can you see that?"

"Oh yeah, looks kinda familiar..." answered Joey, scratching his head.

It should have looked familiar, for the figure was none other than child-prodigy Seto Kaiba. He had been distant from the group for a while (about a month). He said that he had "a new problem to deal with" and couldn't pretend to be best friends with them for a while. "Poor guy..." muttered Yugi, "He's had a lot on his plate recently. Wish he'd talk to us more."

"Well, he can stay away for all I care. Guy's a condescending type, and I don't like that." replied Joey, carrying another box inside.

"How could you say that Joey? Kaiba's stuck with us through some pretty hard times. No matter what, he's our friend, even if he won't readily admit it."

"So what? He did it only for himself."

"Interrupting something, am I?" Kaiba had snuck up on the duo whilst they were bickering. Joey jumped in shock, nearly dropping his box in the process. Yugi raced to place a hand under it, and tripped over his foot.

"Oh. Hey, Kaiba." scoffed Joey.

"Sorry if I...'offended' you in any way, Wheeler. I just tried to be nice. I can't help it if that means I have to be better than you at everything." said Kaiba, with a slight smirk.

"Why don't you just get lost, Kaiba?" yelled Joey, who was getting annoyed.

"Actually, Yugi's grandpa invited me here. He said that the new building nearby had some connection to the...issue I've been facing." Kaiba lost his smirk as he remembered what he'd been dealing with. He shut his eyes, but opened them again quickly to hide any display of emotional pain. "It's been going on for too long. I need to end it. Now, where's the old man?"

"Just inside...you okay, Kaiba?" Yugi asked.

"I'm fine. Leave me alone." Kaiba said, as he walked into the Game Shop, coat tails drifting behind him. It added a certain sense of drama that only he could pull off.

"Man, he sure seemed distracted." noted Joey.

"Yeah..." replied Yugi absently.

They worked for a few more hours, and they finally finished. Joey shoved his hands into his pockets.

"See you later, Yugi!" cried Joey, as he walked away.

"Yeah, bye Joey." replied Yugi. He went to pack away his equipment, and saw Kaiba exiting the Game Shop. Kaiba seemed slightly more annoyed than usual, and his walk was direct and focused. Yugi attempted to stop him and ask him about his issues, but Kaiba blanked him and kept walking. Yugi then went to continue packing up, when he heard a car speeding past the Game Shop at what was certainly more than 30 mph. He ran out to see Kaiba staring at a tattered note, a disturbed expression on his face.

Yugi ran to Kaiba. "You okay? That car sure was fast!" he exclaimed.

"Leave me alone, Yugi!" snapped Kaiba, preparing to walk away.

"No, Kaiba, I won't! You've blanked us for a month now! What is going on?" Yugi attempted to steal the note, but to no avail, as Kaiba was much, MUCH taller than him.

"Nothing to do with your OR your little friends. It doesn't affect you. Stay out of it!" said Kaiba.

"Kaiba, look at me. Tell me what's going on. You know me and the Pharaoh have helped you out lots of times. Now tell me what's wrong!"

"Fine...*stubborn little brat*...you've seen the large building not too far from here, I assume?"

"Yeah, who hasn't?"

"Well, that's supposedly a regular office branch. However, I happen to know it isn't. It's a test lab for a new kind of game...a game much like the virtual reality one I've been designing. Except this one requires nothing more than a brain."

"What?"

"There are no machines involved. Instead, they've somehow managed to make the whole game an illusion. You enter the tower, and have to reach the top and defeat the boss. Simple enough. However, the minds behind it are not exactly friendly...and they've kidnapped my brother!"

At that moment, Joey ran towards the duo holding a similar tattered note. He had panic in his eyes, and Yugi could guess what had happened. "Yugi! These guys in some black car gave me this! They've taken Tristan and Tea!"

Yugi grabbed the note and stared at it. These people, whoever they were, had taken most of his friends. Who knew what they were doing? He was sure it couldn't be anything like a game. He scrunched up the note and shoved it in his pocket, and donned a serious expression. "Kaiba, do you know what they do to the ones they take?"

"I have an idea. Every game needs testing. So, either they've taken Mokuba and the others to test the game, or..."

"Or what?" Yugi went from serious to desperate worry.

"Or they're using them as bait for us to test it." Kaiba shut his eyes tight, unable to imagine his little brother being used as a pawn to lure himself into a trap again.

Yugi looked at Joey, who was very confused. "Why not just ask real people to test it?"

"Have you really not caught on yet, Wheeler? Whatever it is, it isn't a GAME. It's a torture chamber. They want to get at my success, just like everybody else. Well, I'm going to stop them, no matter what. Nobody takes my brother and gets away with it." He clenched his fist. "Whoever these people are, they're going to pay."

Yugi nodded in agreement. "We're going with you, Kaiba. I mean, they're obviously powerful. You'll need all the help you can get."

Kaiba sighed. "I suppose you'd still follow if I said 'go away', so why not? We'll leave first thing tomorrow. Don't get kidnapped...especially you, Wheeler."

"Hey, I can handle myself, Kaiba!" yelled Joey.

"Sure, fine..." Kaiba chuckled to himself as he walked away.

"Told you he was a moron, Yugi." Joey muttered.

"Oh, deal with it, Joey." Yugi replied.


	2. The First Duel! Part 1

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_I think that all went rather well. Want to go another round? Promise I won't mess up._

"I see you kept yourselves safe." commented Kaiba as Yugi and Joey approached him. Yugi was wearing his regular outfit, of his school uniform and trainers. Joey had donned his blue and white t-shirt and his blue jacket, along with some jeans and trainers. Kaiba, too, was wearing a familiar outfit. His signature one, in fact. His long white coat flapped in the wind, and he checked his deck as the duo finally reached him. "Remember your decks?" he asked.

"You're not seriously telling me we're going to deal with a bunch of kidnapping psychotic freaks by duelling them?" asked Joey.

"Well, it's a Duel Monsters game. What else could we do, Wheeler?"

"Yeah, I got my deck...where to first? Want a drink first? Or a bite to eat? Or are we just going straight into the big...scary...haunted tower?" Joey began to shake.

"It isn't HAUNTED, just rigged with a sophisticated set of illusions to create the feeling of duelling your way through a haunted tower. It's all fake. A trick. You'll be fine." Kaiba was oddly reassuring. Yet he still seemed distracted. "Let's go."

The trio walked in a line down the busy streets. They overheard many whispered conversations about their destinations, and it seemed their friends weren't the only victims. It turned out that nearly everybody in the city had had a family member or friend go missing, always in the same way. A black fleet of vehicles knocking them out and dragging them into their cars. The very thought of somebody injuring Tea and Tristan angered Yugi. He felt his rage build up, and was about to scream when Yami interrupted. "I can feel your anger, Yugi. It's justified, of course, but you can't let it consume you. Stay focused, and remember - Joey and Kaiba are still with you. Your best friend, and your rival. Who better to have in such a situation? If it comes to duelling, I could think of no two better people. Joey's courage and Kaiba's determination will aid you in this task, Yugi, and you have the final component. You have the ability, the skill, the talent to bring the individual parts together. Do not worry, for while this may be tough, you will get through it by believing in yourself and your partners."

"You're right. Thank you, Pharaoh. We can do this. We can get back Mokuba, Tea and Tristan." Yugi sped up with excitement.

"Slow down, Yugi. Nearly leaving us in your dust here, man!" Joey smiled as he caught up to his friend.

Soon, they were on the same street as the tower. All of a sudden, Joey was knocked to the ground, and Yugi was grabbed by a mysterious figure. He was almost dragged away, however Kaiba tackled the figure and pinned him down. "Who are you? Who do you work for?!" He slammed him against a wall in a fit of rage.

"You okay, Joey?" Yugi ran towards his friend.

"My head hurts...hey, who's that Kaiba's beating up?" asked Joey.

"Who sent you, you pathetic excuse for a henchman?!" Kaiba threw the man onto the floor.

"Kaiba, STOP!" Yugi ran in front of the figure, stretching his arms out as if to protect him.

"Yugi, he may have a connection to the threat we face. Now let me get what I want, or I'll have no hesitation in injuring you too." Kaiba glared at Yugi, his gaze becoming more serious with every word.

"You'll never...get your brother back...Seto Kaiba!" the figure stood up and pulled something out of his pocket.

Kaiba went to knock the object away from the figure, but Yugi stopped him and asked the man what it was. "Oh this? This is a timer. It shows how long you have left to save the ones we've taken. Time is ticking away, gentlemen. You have just 24 hours to rescue your friends...and family. Am I right, Seto?"

"Curse you, you worthless waste of space! I will stop you!" Kaiba was enraged, and nearly pushed Yugi over lunging at him. The figure placed the timer on the ground, and started pressing buttons on his sleeve. "Tell you what...we play a little game, and you can get that timer reset to full, with an extra hour on as a sign of goodwill. Deal?"

"You're on, you big creep! Chill out, Yugi, I'll take this one!" Joey went to activate his duel disk, but then Yugi's Millennium Puzzle activated, and standing where he once stood was the body of Yami Yugi.

"No. I shall do this. Who better to play the first duel of the day?" Yami activated his duel disk.

"So it's a bet. I have to warn you - lose, and you'll join your friends in their torment! Still want to play?" laughed the figure as he activated his duel disk.

"Of course. I will defeat you, and then we'll rescue our friends!" Yami stood, ready for a duel.

"Then we play. I'll let you go first. I mean, you'll need every advantage you can get!" giggled the mysterious figure as he drew his first five cards.

Yami drew six cards and looked at his hand. "I'll summon the Obnoxious Celtic Guard, in Attack Mode! Then, I'll set a card before ending my turn."

"Nice move, and I like your little elf. Unfortunately, he won't be staying for too long. But he can stay for now. I'll set a monster in Defence Mode, and I'll leave it at that."

Yami drew. He thought to himself...'That monster must have high Defence Points or a special ability that will destroy my Guard...I'll have to be careful'. "I summon Queen's Knight in Attack Mode to support my Guard. I'll refrain from attacking, instead I'll just set another card. Your move."

"Two knights now. Very original. I'll set another monster in Defence Mode, and set a card face-down as well."

'What is he up to...never mind.' "I draw!" Yami looked at his hand. Should he risk attacking one of the Set Monsters, or would that be a waste of Life Points? It wasn't really himself he was duelling for...it was his friends. Then he saw one card which could help him later on. "I'll set a card. That's all for now."

"I'll pass this turn. You go."

"I can't hold back any longer...my monsters, destroy his face-downs!" And, sure enough, the two face-down monsters were destroyed. What was the figure playing at? "That's all."

"I'll set a monster in Defence Mode. Your turn."

Yami drew, and luck was in his favour. He'd drawn the Dark Magician, his favourite monster. He looked at the rest of his hand, and he saw the Dark Magician Girl AND Sage's Stone. "I could gain a huge advantage right here...I have to do it. I'll tribute my Guard to summon the Dark Magician Girl! And I'll help her out by activating Sage's Stone, allowing me to Special Summon...THE DARK MAGICIAN!" With his two favourite monsters on the field, Yami gained confidence. "Now, Dark Magician, attack his face-down! Dark Magician Girl, and Queen's Knight, attack him directly!"

"Ahaha..." chuckled the figure as his face-down disappeared. The Queen's Knight was about to strike him when he yelled "ACTIVATE TRAP CARD! Radiant Mirror Force! Say goodbye to your monsters, fool! My Life Points are perfectly safe."

"Oh no! My magicians!" Yami watched as his two favourite monsters were shattered into pieces.

"It doesn't matter, Yugi! You can beat this creep! Just believe!" Yami heard Joey support him, and this gave him newfound confidence. "Your move."

"Well, I'll do something rather special. Since all three of the monsters you destroyed were Fiends, I can remove them from play to summon this - Dark Necrofear! And since you have no defences, I'm free to attack you directly!" Yami staggered as Dark Necrofear struck his body exactly. He watched his Life Point Counter drop to 1800. "You're below half your life points already, and I'm gonna finish you off next turn. Your move."

"How can I recover from such a rookie mistake?..never mind. I have to keep going. I draw!" Yami stared at his hand, begging for a solution. Then, he remembered his face-downs. "I'll activate my Swords of Revealing Light! You can't attack for 3 whole turns, buying me some time." (But not much, he thought). "I'll play a monster in Defence Mode, and end it there."

"Aha! I thought you'd run. I'll just set a monster in Defence Mode. You go."

"Agh, nothing..."

"I'll pass again! One turn left, fool. Then I'll put you in a world of hurt, AGAIN. Nothing you have can stop my Dark Necrofear!"

"I won't let you win! I must believe in this next draw...it could make or break this entire duel!" Yami's hand shook over his deck...what would he draw?

_Continued next chapter..._


	3. The First Duel! Part 2

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_Oh my, an actual card game! Yeah, there's gonna be a few. Don't worry, they won't all be this rushed. I promise. Though they won't be too drawn out either. I'll try and keep them to 2 or 3 chapters, and not go crazy with them and make them like 6 chapters. Do not fret, stay calm, sit down, grab a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit, and get ready to play some more card games!  
_

Yami shut his eyes and drew his next card. He opened his eyes slightly and barely made out his new card. "What's wrong? The card you got no good?" The figure mocked him, just like he had done for the entirety of the time he wasn't being beaten up by Kaiba. Yami opened his eyes fully to reveal - Premature Burial! He still had a chance. But it had to go perfectly...

"My new card is far from 'no good', I'll have you know! In fact, I'll use it right now. I activate Premature Burial! By paying 800 Life Points, I can bring back one of my monsters from the Graveyard, and I know just who to pick...come back, my Dark Magician!" The body of the Dark Magician materialised before Yami, with a gravestone below it to signify its Premature Burial Equip Card.

"Why waste 800 more Life Points? You only have 1000 left, you know. And, oh look, I'm still on 4000! You can't win, face it!" Yami clenched his free hand as he studied the rest of his hand. He noticed Slifer and Obelisk, two of his legendary Egyptian God Cards. 'If I can summon these, I'll surely win'. "Dark Magician, destroy his Dark Necrofear!"

"Trap Card! Negate Attack. No luck this time, sorry!" The figure laughed to himself.

"Ugh...your move." Yami was annoyed by this delay. When could he begin to fight back? He was already down by 3000 Life Points!

"I draw. I'll place a monster in Defence Mode, and set a card. Now, your swords are out of time, I believe? Meaning I can attack your Defence Mode monster. Go, Dark Necrofear!" Yami watched his face-down monster shatter into pieces. He was not fazed, however, as Dark Necrofear could not defeat his Dark Magician. He was sure he could win. "You still cannot defeat my Magician!"

"I've got a plan all ready for that. See, I attacked before I did this to gain an advantage - I'll activate Card of Sanctity!"

Joey jolted on the spot. "Oh no! Yugi!"

"This makes us remove all cards in our hand and on the field from play, meaning it's a clean playing field. We also draw two cards."

Yami was shocked. Two of his Egyptian Gods were in his hand! Unwillingly, he discarded all of his hand from play, and also his cards on the field. He drew two cards - and, to his relief, one of them was his final God Card, The Winged Dragon of Ra. "Hello? You fool, it's your turn now!" Yami shook his head and drew. He saw he had Pot of Greed, and thought to play it. "I'll activate Pot of Greed! This lets me draw two cards with no cost at all!"

"I know how that card works, you imbecile!" The figure stomped at Yami.

"Don't let him get you down, k Yugi? You're still in it! I know you can do it!" Joey cheered support for Yami. Kaiba stood with his arms folded, staring at the ground.

Yami drew two more cards. To his relief, he drew two very useful cards - Monster Reborn and Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts. "I'll summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts to the field! Now, attack him directly!"

The attack went as planned. His enemy lost 1500 Life Points, which relaxed Yami a little more. He heard Joey celebrating. "Alright! Eat that, you big creep!"

"I'll Set a card and end my turn."

"One attack, and you think you have me beat? Well, you're wrong. And I'll show you why - activate Spell Card Hand Destruction! You must discard two cards from your hand now! And look, you only have two! Hope it isn't too inconvenient, eh?" The figure chuckled. "I must discard two as well, but no matter. We both draw two more cards from our deck. And I'll summon a monster in Defence Mode. Your turn."

"Oh no!" Yami discarded his hand. He drew two cards, and he didn't seem so upset anymore. "...oh yes! Exactly what I wanted!"

"What? What did you get? Nothing can help you, no matter what it is."

"I beg to differ...first, I'll activate my face-down - Monster Reincarnation! By discarding a card, I can add one Monster in my Graveyard to my hand! Now, I'll activate my Spell Card, Scapegoat!"

"Hey, that's my card! I told you to stop stealing my cards, Yugi!" Joey feigned irritation, but really he was excited. Kaiba even looked up at the duel.

"I can summon four Sheep Tokens to the field alongside my Gazelle. I'll end it there. Your move."

"I'll draw, and play MY Pot of Greed! Two more cards...and oh look, ANOTHER Pot of Greed! Well, I'll go again! I'll draw two cards, and set them both. Your move."

"I 'll just Set a card and end my turn."

"I'll activate my face-downs in response. TWO Reckless Greed cards! I can draw four cards, and skip only two Draw Phases, because their effects do not stack. What have you got to say to that?"

"I say I'll activate MY face-down! GAMBLE!"

Joey looked stunned. "ANOTHER one of my cards? Never saw you as the type to do this sort of thing, Yugi. This better work!"

"It will, Joey. I toss a coin and call it. If I'm right, I draw until I hold 5 cards. If I'm wrong, I skip my next turn." Yami tossed the coin up and called "Heads!". He caught the coin, and revealed it to be...HEADS. "Alright! Come on Yugi!" Joey cheered.

"I now draw 3 more cards, plus the one I draw at the start of my turn. Now, whoever you are, prepare to face my full power."

"Ah-ah-ah, I ain't done. I summon Ancient Brain, and Flip Summon my Bio Plant! Destroy two of his tokens!"

"NOW I draw. And now you'll see my true potential! I tribute my tokens and my Gazelle to bring forth the Winged Dragon of Ra!" The form of the dragon appeared before Yami, its might very clear.

"Oh no..." The figure trembled with fear, as he could guess what was coming next.

"And now I'll activate my other Set Card, Return from the Different Dimension! I pay half of my Life Points to Special Summon as many monsters as I can that have been removed from play! Come back, Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Dark Magician!" The might of his newfound army appeared before the figure, who was shaking so much it seemed unreal. "Now, my monsters, attack him and his monsters! Wipe out his Life Points!"

"No! I was so close! NO!" He watched his Life Points fall to 0, and he fell to the floor. Kaiba ran to him and picked him up by his shirt. "Now tell us who you are, you creep!"

"I believe the deal was, your time gets reset to 25 hours. Nothing about answers -" he got interrupted by Kaiba knocking the cards out of his hand. "Tell me!"

"Okay!..I work for a company called Shadow Development, who work out of the new building, known as the Shadow Institute. We specialise in a new type of game - Illusion-based games."

"Why did you kidnap innocent people then?" Kaiba shook the man.

"We were recently taken over by a new guy, nobody had even heard of him before. He changed our direction, saying that kidnapping them was 'good for testing'. I think he's using them as bait to lure the three best duelists in the world into his 'fun house', as he called it."

"A name! GIVE ME A NAME!" Kaiba grew more frustrated by the second.

"Now that would be ruining the fun. I can give you my name...it's Kester. Now, get off of me. Time is ticking, gentlemen." Kester stood up, picked up his cards and walked away.

"Yeah, beat it, you loser! Stay away from us! Great job, Yugi!" Joey congratulated his friend, offering a high five.

"I couldn't have done it without your support. Even you helped me, Kaiba." He met Joey's hand, and then turned to look at Kaiba, who just looked at Kester. He thought to himself...'I will save you, Mokuba. I promise.'

"Hey Yugi?" Joey interrupted Kaiba's thoughts. "Can I have my cards back now?"

Yami laughed. "Sure, Joey. Here. Lock them up properly this time, though, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Joey picked up the timer. It displayed 25 hours on its screen. It began to tick down. "Time's started again, guys." Joey placed the timer in his pocket.

Kaiba looked ahead. "Let's go. We have a lot of work to do." Yami and Joey nodded in agreement, and the three walked towards the Shadow Institute.


	4. Army of Shadow! Part 1

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_Want more card games? So do I. After all, what is Yu-Gi-Oh! without Duel Monsters?_

"Man, this timer's more annoying than Tristan trying to get at my sister. Ticktock, ticktock...jeez." Joey placed his hand in the pocket with the timer to try and silence it.

"Well, it's a clock, Wheeler. What were you expecting? A clap? A whistle?" Kaiba smirked as he put Joey down once again.

"Agh, shut it, Kaiba! We're at the tower, anyway. Who wants to go first?"

Kaiba barged through the door, and was greeted by a purple mist. He coughed as he signalled for Yami and Joey to enter. The pair came through the door, and they both started coughing too. "What is this?" Yami asked through coughing. Kaiba shrugged, and walked through the mist. The three found a large hall, with a single corridor on the other side. There was little light, and no objects, or people. It was silent apart from their footsteps. All of a sudden, a light appeared in the centre of the room. Kaiba approached it, and then heard a click. A trapdoor opened beneath him, and Kaiba began to fall.

"Kaiba!" Yami lunged for his falling form, and barely caught his arm. He pulled him up, and Joey supported him. "What did you do?" he asked.

"I don't know, but whoever runs this place isn't happy we managed to get here. Stay alert." Kaiba began to walk to the corridor again.

Yami and Joey followed, and pretty soon they were walking down the corridor. They saw a large room at the other end, and ran towards it. To their surprise, they'd entered the hall again, with just one corridor at the end like before. "What is going on here? Why can't they let us out of here and face us?" Joey kicked a wall.

"It's an illusion, Joey. We need to do something before we can leave." Yami placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"What do they want? Hang on...how much do you wanna bet it's a duel they want? Well, if they wanna duel, I'm right here!"

"Don't be a fool, Wheeler. This is my problem. This kind of issue is...beyond your talents." Kaiba chuckled.

"You sayin' I couldn't beat one of these guys? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Joey was getting angrier by the minute.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crashing sound. The three ran into the hall to see a large podium being raised. On the top, they could make out a single figure, in a large cloak. "Hey, it's that Kester guy again!" Joey pointed at the figure.

"I'm afraid you're quite mistaken, Mr. Wheeler." the figure lowered its hood to reveal an unfamiliar face, and descended from the podium with a distinct elegance.

"Hey, how do you know my name?" Joey scratched his head.

"I know all about you three, including your little predicament, Mr. Kaiba."

"You're one of Kester's associates, I assume?" Kaiba clenched his fist.

"If you mean I work for Shadow Development, you'd be right. My name is Heaton, and I'm here for yourselves, gentlemen."

"You're on! Give me a minute to get my deck ready, and -" Joey was interrupted by Kaiba stepping forward.

"You want to duel? You have a duel. Get ready to be well and truly beaten, Heaton!" Kaiba shuffled his deck.

"Fine. Who better to beat first than the infamous Seto Kaiba? You learned the rules from Kester, I assume?"

"Remind me." Kaiba reinserted his deck into his duel disk.

"Well, if I win, I get to take you to where we keep the others. If you win, you get a bonus."

"A bonus what?"

"Well, in this instance, you get to know how to get out of this room, and how to advance. No extra time here, sorry." Heaton initiated his duel disk. "Ready?"

"Ready to beat you down? Never been readier." Kaiba initiated his duel disk, and the duel began.

Heaton drew five cards. "I'll start things off. I'll summon Shining Friendship in Attack Mode!" The smiling fairy appeared before him.

"What? That's the least 'shadowy' monster I've ever seen! You gotta be kidding!" Joey laughed from the sidelines.

"Laugh while you can, Mr. Wheeler. I'll set a card and leave it at that." Heaton motioned for Kaiba to draw.

"I'll draw!" Kaiba added the new card to his hand. "I'll summon Vorse Raider, in Attack Mode! Vorse Raider, destroy that little fairy!" Vorse Raider shattered Shining Friendship, causing Heaton to lose 600 Life Points. "Too easy...I'll set two cards, and end my turn."

"What you don't know, is that you set off my Trap! Solemn Wishes! Now I gain 500 Life Points each time I draw. And oh look, I'm drawing right now!" Heaton sorted his hand. "I gain 500 Life Points. Now I'll summon Dunames Dark Witch in Attack Mode!"

"You still can't beat my Vorse Raider."

"I'm fully aware of that, which is why I have this - Luminous Spark! It's a Field Spell that increase the Attack of all LIGHT-attribute monsters by 500, at a cost of 400 Defence Points. But it makes my Witch more than capable of destroying your Raider. In fact, that's what I'll do. Dunames Dark Witch, destroy his Vorse Raider!" Kaiba watched his monster break into pieces, and his Life Points fall by 300. "You go."

Kaiba though to himself, 'If I can get my Blue-Eyes onto the field, I can use his Field Spell against him. All I need is to draw one card...' "It's my move, Heaton!"

Kaiba drew, and smiled to himself. "Just what I needed...I'll summon Lord of Dragons in Attack Mode!"

"You have to be joking. My Witch can wipe that out with ease."

"But can it fight against this? The Flute of Summoning Dragon? This lets me Special Summon two Dragons from my hand, and you're going to love the two I have. I summon Alexandrite Dragon and Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" The two dragons appeared either side of his Lord of Dragons. "This duel is going to end sooner than I thought. You were fun for a short while, but you won't last this next turn. Blue-Eyes, attack his Witch!"

"I don't think so, Mr. Kaiba! I'll activate my trap, Mirror Wall! This halves the attack of your monsters when they attack! I think you'll find your dragon can't quite beat my Witch..."

"And I think you'll find otherwise. My Lord of Dragons' effect activates, negating your trap!"

"Look again, Mr. Kaiba. My Mirror Wall did not target your dragon specifically, meaning your Lord of Dragons cannot save it."

"No! Blue-Eyes!" Kaiba's favourite monster had fallen, and Kaiba's Life Points themselves fell by a further 450 Points. "I'll just set a card. Go on."

"As a matter of fact, I will. And I gain 500 more Life Points thanks to Solemn Wishes. And, since I don't need it anymore, I'll let go of my Mirror Wall, and tribute my Witch to summon Airknight Parshath! And I'll get him to attack your Lord of Dragons!" Kaiba's Lord of Dragons fell, and Kaiba lost 1200 more Life Points. "Since I dealt damage to you, Airknight Parshath's effect comes into play. I get to draw another card, triggering my Solemn Wishes again. I'll just set a card and leave it there."

"At least my Alexandrite Dragon can beat your Airknight...I draw!" Kaiba's eyes lit up at the card he drew. Polymerization. 'If I can get my Blue-Eyes together, I might have a chance. But one of them's in the Graveyard...how do I get that one out?' "I'll summon Battle Ox, in Attack Mode!" Kaiba grinned at his new monster. "Alexandrite Dragon, destroy his Airknight Parshath!" Kaiba expected a trap, however nothing happened, and he successfully destroyed his opponent's monster. "Okay...Battle Ox, attack him directly!" Again, nothing happened. "And that'll be it for now." Kaiba was surprised at how easy that was.

"A necessary sacrifice to win. I draw, and gain 500 more Life Points. I'll summon a monster in Defence Mode, and end my turn."

"I draw! And I'll activate Pot of Greed! This lets me draw two cards." Kaiba liked his new cards. Monster Reborn and a Blue-Eyes. 'I'm such a good drawer. All I need is one more Blue-Eyes. Although...' "I'll tribute my two monsters to summon my second Blue-Eyes White Dragon! And thanks to your Field Spell, it gains 500 extra Attack Points! And I'm not done! I activate Monster Reborn to summon my first Blue-Eyes back from the Graveyard, which also gains an additional 500 Attack Points!" Now, my two dragons, attack him!"

"I think you'll find just one dragon, Mr. Kaiba."

"What? Where's my other Blue-Eyes?"

"Fell down a hole. Turns out it couldn't fly as well as you thought. My Trap Card Trap Hole prevented it from being summoned. Sorry."

"Fine, but I still have one right here."

"True, and you did destroy my monster. My Life Points are perfectly safe, however."

"For now. Your move."

"I draw, and gain 500 Life Points. And now I'll activate my Monster Reborn, to resurrect my Airknight Parshath. But he won't be staying for too long, as you'll see. I'll tribute him to summon Neo-Parshath, the Sky Paladin!"

"What are you up to?"

"I'm not done. I'll replace my Luminous Spark with the Sanctuary in the Sky, to activate my Neo-Parshath's ability. See, when this card is in effect, Neo-Parshath gains Attack and Defence Points if my Life Points are higher than yours. My Life Points are higher than yours by 2050, so he gains 2050 Attack and Defence Points. And I'll activate my Pot of Greed, to draw two more cards and gain 500 more Life Points, which also boosts his Attack and Defence! And I'll boost his Attack by 1000 with this Axe of Despair. Now, I'm about to beat you once and for all, Mr. Kaiba. You're about to lose everything to a mere henchman. Neo-Parshath, attack his Blue-Eyes! Wipe out his remaining Life Points!"

"No! Kaiba!" Yami was terrified.

Kaiba stood, staring at the ground. His company, his life, the chance to save his little brother...was he about to lose it all?

_Continued next chapter..._


	5. Army of Shadow! Part 2

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_Tense cliffhanger last time, huh? Well, let's resolve it all. Let's rejoin the action!_

"Kaiba, look out!" Yami stood in shock as Kaiba was about to meet his end.

Kaiba stood very still until the last second, when he yelled out "You've activated my Trap Card! Go, Negate Attack!" A shield formed around his Blue-Eyes, and it absorbed the attack nicely and entirely.

"You may have negated this particular attack, but next turn, your Blue-Eyes is history, and so are you, Mr. Kaiba. Your move." Heaton folded his arms and closed his eyes.

"Not if I can help it! I'll draw!" 'Come on...I really need something good here...' "Yes! Perfect!" Kaiba had drawn his Swords of Revealing Light. He had a bit of time to relax, and gather cards. "I'll activate my Swords of Revealing Light! I get three more turns to build up my field. I'll end my turn there."

"Stall all you want, I'm still going to beat you. Nothing you have can beat my Neo-Parshath. I'll draw a card, meaning I'll gain 500 more Life Points, then I'll play a monster in Defence Mode, and end my turn. Your turn."

Kaiba drew. 'Monster Reincarnation? Could be useful...' "I'll activate Monster Reincarnation! By discarding a card, I can add one monster in my Graveyard to my hand. I'll end it there."

"I'll pass. Just one turn left, Mr. Kaiba. Then I get to attack you, and then I'll set my associates on your little friends down there." Heaton glanced at Yami and Joey. "With you three pests removed, there won't be anything that can stand in our way! My Neo-Parshath now has 6850 Attack Points! Face it, Mr. Kaiba. You've lost. Now make your pathetic move."

"I will! Only it won't be pathetic." Kaiba drew, and looked at his card. It was his final Blue-Eyes! "Not pathetic at all." Kaiba began to chuckle.

"What? What do you have that can stand against my Neo-Parshath?"

"Oh, you'll see. I activate Polymerization to summon a monster without peer! Nothing can stop it in its path to its opponent's ultimate destruction! Come forth...Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba's best monster replaced the old Blue-Eyes White Dragon in the centre of his field.

"So what? Neo-Parshath can easily stop that. Your efforts are futile!"

"That's where you're wrong, Heaton. You see, I'm not done. I equip my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with the Spell Card Megamorph! This doubles its Attack Power, as my Life Points are lower than yours."

"What? But now it has...9000 Attack Points?!" Heaton stumbled.

"Well done. Great multiplication skills. Now, let me even it up a bit more...I activate Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your Sanctuary in the Sky! Now your Neo-Parshath only has 2300 Attack Points. Want to work that out as well?"

"No! This can't be happening!" Heaton held his head in desperation.

"But it is, Heaton. And you're about to find out why. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack and destroy his Neo-Parshath! Neutron Blast Attack!"

Heaton tried to escape the Neutron Blast Attack, but it was no use. His Neo-Parshath was destroyed, and he lost 6700 Life Points - 1100 more than he actually had. He watched his Life Points fall to 0, and he fell over and began to sob. Kaiba ran over and picked him up. "I beat you fair and square, Heaton. Now, tell me, how do we get out of this hall?"

Heaton began to laugh maniacally. "You'll never escape this maze of illusions! Ahahaha!" He pushed Kaiba over and began to run away, but Joey ran and tackled him and held the timer in his face. "Look here, you big weirdo - we got just 24 hours to rescue our friends! We're on edge, man. Don't think we ain't prepared to kick the info outta you if we have to, because we will! Now tell us how to get outta here!" Yami walked over to Joey and told him to let go. Kaiba stood up and approached the group.

"The way is very simple...you have to break down the walls."

"What? But I kicked one earlier! They're solid!" Joey grew more frustrated.

"Only certain methods can penetrate the metal cage you're in, gentlemen. Now, excuse me, I have to leave." Heaton mumbled some foreign language, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "Where'd he go?" asked Yami.

"He got away! Now how can we leave?" Kaiba was confused and enraged.

"Hey...maybe we should try our monsters?" suggested Joey.

Yami and Kaiba looked at him as if he had just suggested digging their way out with teaspoons. "Don't be an idiot, Wheeler! Why would that work?"

"It's worked before, right?"

"Yes, but -"

"But nothin'! We each summon our best monsters, and focus their attacks on one wall. Which one though?"

Yami looked thoughtful. "Heaton ran to the north wall when he lost the duel. I say we try that one."

"Better than a guess. You ready, Kaiba?" asked Joey.

Kaiba sorted his deck out again. "Sure."

"Alright! Let's go! I'll start things off - I summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

"I'll summon the Dark Magician!"

"I summon the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

All 3 of them spoke at once. "Attack the northern wall!"

The three monsters worked in unison, their three blasts combining at the end to break down the wall. There was a huge explosion, and afterwards, the wall remained intact. "Nice idea, Wheeler." Kaiba scoffed. "It was so effective."

"I don't get it, that should've worked!" Joey scratched his head. "How could it have stood up to the blast? Let's try again! I'll add some support, too! Come on out, Jinzo and Gilford the Lightning!"

"I'll help out too! I summon Gadget Soldier and XYZ-Dragon Cannon!"

"I'll add Dark Magician Girl and Summoned Skull!"

The 3 once again commanded their monsters at once. "Attack the northern wall!"

The added support made for a larger blast, but no extra effect. The wall remained in its place. without so much as a scratch. Joey was even more annoyed now. "Come on! Isn't this meant to be a game? This is just the first stage - why is it so difficult?"

"Maybe I should try my God Cards?" Yami asked.

"Go ahead, Yugi."

"And I'll use Megamorph on my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

"I'll use my Copycat to copy Kaiba's Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."

"Typical of you, Wheeler. Always wanting to copy me." Kaiba folded his arms.

"Hey, shut your face, Kaiba! You wanna save Mokuba or not?"

"Too far, Wheeler. Too far."

"I summon Obelisk the Tormentor, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and the Winged Dragon of Ra! Attack the northern wall!" The three Divine-Beasts were powerful, and the two powered-up Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragons helped, but the wall remained. Joey screamed in frustration! "Time's a-tickin', and we can't get outta here!"

Kaiba nodded. "For once, Wheeler may be right. Nothing's working, Yugi."

"He isn't. I'll merge my three gods together to give their combined form unlimited attack strength! Now, attack again!" The blast created was apocalyptic. The stream hit the northern wall, and caused the entire building to shake. Rubble fell from the ceiling, and the three covered their eyes from the light. When the blast and smoke cleared, the northern wall still stood. "You have to be KIDDING!" Joey screamed again.

However, just as he finished speaking, cracks appeared in the wall. The cracks grew and grew until they split the wall apart. It crashed down with a cacophonous sound. The three called back their monsters, and Joey punched the air in excitement. "Alright! We're making progress! Nice job, Yugi!" Joey patted his friend on the back.

"It was your idea that started this off, Joey. And you should be congratulating Kaiba as well, for winning his duel in such spectacular fashion." Yami did a thumbs-up towards Kaiba, and Joey offered him a high-five. Kaiba smiled briefly, before shaking his head. "I did what was necessary, nothing more. Now come on. Time's a-wasting."

The three walked out of the hall, into a garden of some sort. "Oh great, this is going to be a maze or somethin', isn't it?" said Joey cynically.

But it wasn't. In fact, it lead to a courtyard, where ornamental gates surrounded them. The area looked very rural and traditional, and seemed like part of an old manor. The three looked around, and everything was suspiciously ideal. The sun was out, the sky was blue, not a cloud in sight. The grass was green and lush, and the structures in good condition. Yet the area felt like it had been abandoned for some time. "Tell you what, I almost forgot this was an illusion. It's so lifelike." commented Joey.

"I know what you mean. An impressive achievement." replied Yami.

"Hey...you reckon we may have busted out of the actual building?"

"No...we're still in the illusion."

"But why would they let us be so happy?"

"I don't know..."

They wandered around the abandoned courtyard, looking for a way into the manor. They failed to find one, and before too long gathered in the centre of the courtyard to discuss their next move. "We've wasted 20 minutes just wandering around here. What do we do?" Joey tapped the timer.

"I'm aware of the time limit, Wheeler! Don't you think we're as annoyed as you are? We have people to save too!" Kaiba snapped at Joey, before clearing his throat and mumbling, "...sorry...I guess I'm upset..."

"It's alright, Kaiba. We'll save your brother." Yami smiled at his rival, who just shut his eyes.

Just then, a noise started to play. Sounded like a siren. It was coming from a nearby field, so the group ran towards it to find an old fort of some considerable age, maybe even older than the courtyard. The noise was the siren that was played when somebody had broken into the fort. The three walked towards the structure to find the main gate locked. "Don't tell me we gotta bust another wall." complained Joey. "I've had it with explosions and noise for now."

They didn't have to break the gate down, as from behind the gate were some distinct clicking noises, and then the gate drifted open, revealing a dark interior. Yami, Kaiba and Joey looked at each other, before walking into the fort, and whatever traps lay within...


	6. Heavy Metal! Part 1

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

…_Oh, it's you! I'm not quite done with the main story yet, so…have some development._

"Face it, Mr. Devlin. You've lost. You can try and fight back if you want, but in the end, it'll be useless. Nothing you have can stop the force of my Dark Armed Dragon!" the man chuckled as he watched Duke quiver.

"That's where you're wrong! I can still win this!" Duke drew a card. "I'll activate Summon Dice! By paying 1000 Life Points, I can roll the dice, and activate an effect based on the number it gives!" Duke's Life Points fell to 400, but he was not concerned. He had a plan worked out. "I'll roll…" he said, as he watched the result turn out to be a six. "Perfect! This lets me Special Summon a Level 5 or higher monster from my hand. I'll summon Orgoth the Relentless!"

"So? My Dark Armed Dragon has 2800 Attack Points. You still cannot defeat it!"

"I'm getting onto that. I'll activate Adamantine Sword Revival! I'll tribute Orgoth the Relentless to summon Diamond Head Dragon! Its attack power is equal to Orgoth's, with an extra 1000 thrown in just for good measure. I think you'll find I'm perfectly capable of taking you down! Fortunately for you, Adamantine Sword Revival's other effect means I can't use Diamond Head Dragon to attack this turn, so you're safe for now. Your move." Duke was smiling at this sudden change of events.

"Smile while you can, Mr. Devlin, for your end is nearing." the man drew, and started smirking. "Oh dear…you were so hopeful. So brave. Sadly, it has to end now. I'll activate the Spell Card Enemy Controller!"

"What?!"

"I'll tribute my Dark Armed Dragon to take control of your Diamond Head Dragon! Now your dragon belongs to me for this turn, and you have no defences left. But I think I'll make this a bit flashier. Activate Spell Card - Shadow Summoning Ritual! I'll tribute your Diamond Head Dragon, and a monster from my hand to complete the sacrifice. Come on out..."

"What the heck is that?!"

"Something far more powerful than anything you or your little friends have."

"There's got to be a way to stop this!"

"Unfortunately, there isn't. Go, attack him directly!"

Duke took the full force of the hit, and fell to the ground. The cloaked man slotted the Diamond Head Dragon card back into Duke's deck. "Well, we're not petty thieves, are we? Shove him in the van with the old man and the girl. Our work for tonight is almost done." He got into the driving seat, waited for the doors to close, and began to drive off.

**Back at the fort**, Yami, Kaiba and Joey had entered. They looked around for a brief moment before jumping at a loud crash behind them. It was the gate sealing and locking. "We weren't plannin' on leavin', were we?" Joey asked.

"Even if we were, seems like there's something we have to do first." Yami examined a barrel in the corner.

"If you say it's even remotely related to breaking a wall down with monsters, I'm gonna scream." Joey nudged a table, causing a vase on it to fall and shatter. As it hit the floor, the fort began to shake. "Aw, man! Why can't anything go right? Who keeps a vase in a fort anyway?"

"A keen flower enthusiast, who I think you just got on the bad side of, Wheeler." Kaiba dodged a falling piece of roof. "Can't take you anywhere, honestly..."

The siren began to sound again. A large door at the back of the upper level drifted open, and out stepped another cloaked figure. He seemed larger than the previous two, and was a much slower walker. "Hey, it's another one of those guys!" Joey ran to the bottom of the stairs.

"Very clever, Joey Wheeler."

"This guy knows me too? Man, this place is crazy..."

"I'm the third member of Shadow Development, and my name is Doddison. You thought Kester and Heaton were tough? You ain't seen nothing yet..." He jumped down the stairs, and landed just in front of Joey, who stumbled back in surprise. "Now, which one of you morons ain't had a duel yet?"

Kaiba pushed Joey forward. "Your man is right here. Well Wheeler, you're up."

"We'll be right behind you, Joey." Yami gave a thumbs-up to his friend.

Joey smiled. "K, you stair-skippin' psycho! You're on! When I'm through with you, you'll never forget the name Joey Wheeler!"

"I admire your courage, 'Joey'. So, want to hear the terms?" Doddison pulled out his deck.

"I get 'em already! You win, you get to take me to wherever Tristan and the others are. I win, and I get some sorta bonus outta it."

"Exactly. Want to know what the bonus is here?"

"It isn't 'free all of our friends', by any chance?" Joey shuffled his deck.

"Nice try, but no. If you win, you get to use this." Doddison mumbled some words and made a machine appear on the upper level of the fort.

"The heck is that? A vending machine?" Joey scratched his head.

"It's a teleportation device, you imbecile. It'll take you to the main section, where your friends are. We recently got in some new subjects as well..."

"What? Who've you taken now?" Joey stepped forward.

Doddison chuckled. "Oh, just a 'popular' dice enthusiast, an old man and a young girl...nothing special..." Doddison ran his fingers through his hair.

Yami's eyes grew. "That sounds like Duke Devlin, Yugi's grandfather and your sister, Joey!"

"Serenity?! You dare lay a single hand on my sister, and I'll get two of mine to make some adjustments to your face!" Joey clenched his fist.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me, wise guy. Nobody takes my sister and gets away with it. Now, we gonna duel, or do I have to beat you up more directly first?" Joey initiated his duel disk.

"Might as well begin. I'll let you have the first move." Doddison started his duel disk.

"Couldn't be happier to. I'll draw." Joey drew a card and added it to his hand. "K, I'll summon Alligator's Sword in Attack Mode! I'll back him up with a face-down, and end my turn." Yami smiled at Joey's confident start.

"That's a big sword. Can you back it up properly, however?" Doddison drew. "I'll summon Ancient Gear Knight in Attack Mode, and I'll get it to destroy your Alligator's Sword!" Joey's monster was pierced by the lance, and shattered before him. Joey lost 300 Life Points. "I'll leave it there."

"Lucky hit. I draw!" Joey drew another card. He'd drawn Masaki the Legendary Swordsman. He thought to himself, 'Great! All I need is my Flame Manipulator and I can get my Flame Swordsman out!' "I'll summon Axe Raider in Attack Mode! And I'll set another card face-down before I'll let you go."

"Fool! You've left yourself open for an attack! Ancient Gear Knight, destroy his Axe Raider!"

"Stop right there, you acrobatic lunatic! I'll activate my Trap Card, Kunai with Chain! It'll increase the power of my Axe Raider by 500, but I'll choose not to switch your monster to Defence Mode. You'd just activate his ability to switch him back, so...say goodbye to 400 of your Life Points!" Ancient Gear Knight was hit by Axe Raider's weapons, and disappeared.

"Curses! I'll set a monster and a card and end it there."

"This is getting good!" Joey drew a card. "I'll summon Goblin Attack Force in Attack Mode! And I'll get it to attack your face-down!"

"My Trap activates! Negate Attack! The Battle Phase ends."

"Man! Fine, I'll just leave it there. And since my Goblins still attacked, they switch to Defence Mode." Joey scratched his head.

"I'll draw! And I'll place another monster in Defence Mode. That's it."

Joey drew a card. "Great! Pot of Greed! I'll activate it now. This lets me draw two cards."

Kaiba smirked. "Never get tired of hearing that." He folded his arms and continued to watch the ongoing duel.

"I'll tribute my Axe Raider to summon Jinzo in Attack Mode!" Joey then realised what his other card was. "Alright! I drew Masaki! Now I can activate this...Polymerization! By fusing my Flame Manipulator and Masaki, I can summon my Flame Swordsman to the field, in Attack Mode! Let's see your face-downs stand up to this! Flame Swordsman, attack his central face-down!" Flame Swordsman lunged at the monster, but his attack bounced right off. The monster was Acrobat Monkey. "Hey, it's just like you! No worries, Jinzo'll take care of it!" Jinzo attacked and destroyed the monkey.

Doddison laughed. "I guess it was like me. In that it stopped your Swordsman dead in its tracks. Just like this next card will - I'll activate Stray Lambs to summon two Lamb Tokens!"

"You gotta be kiddin' me! Those things'll stop Jinzo and Flame Swordsman? Unlikely."

"I'm not done, 'Joey'! Next, I'll tribute them both to Set a monster in Defence Mode. You go."

Joey thought to himself, 'Setting a Tribute Monster? Man, must be pretty tough. Jinzo can handle it.' "I'll set a face-down, then I'll get Jinzo to attack your new face-down monster!" Jinzo fired a blast at the monster, which came right back at Joey. "What? No!" Joey was hit directly, and lost 600 Life Points. The monster had also been flipped to reveal a giant machine.

"You fell for my trick. You've just sealed your own defeat, Joey Wheeler! You've unleashed my Ancient Gear Golem!"

Yami ran near to Joey, but the Golem planted a hand firmly down, knocking down a piece of debris which separated him and Kaiba from the duel. "Joey! Be careful!" He punched at the rock.

"Aww, man. That's bad. That's REALLY bad!"

"You bet, Joey Wheeler. And pretty soon, it'll be doing the same to you as it did to the fort just now - smashing you up!"

"Agh, I'll just end my turn. Can't risk attacking that other face-down."

"Good. Then I'll go. I'll switch Ancient Gear Golem to Attack Mode, and Tribute my other face-down to summon Ancient Gear Beast alongside it!"

"Umm..."

"Now, Ancient Gear Beast, attack his Flame Swordsman!"

"No!" Joey felt a fang hit his elbow, and saw his Life Points fall by 200.

"Ancient Gear Golem! Destroy his Jinzo!"

"Not more of this!" Joey was knocked over by the shockwave, and lost 600 more Life Points. "Agh, ah..."

"Do you give up now, Joey Wheeler? Do you see how you cannot win? Nothing can defeat my Golem!"

"There's gotta be something! I'm just workin' on it..." Joey drew a card. He stared at his hand. 'Man, I got nothing to get past those machines...I gotta stall for now.' "I'll activate Scapegoat, and I'll use it to summon four Joey Tokens!"

"I thought it created Sheep Tokens?"

"Hey, my field, I can summon whatever Tokens I want, and I choose four tiny Joeys!" Four miniature versions of Joey appeared before him, shouting out taunts such as "Hey, you wanna piece? You wanna piece?" and covering their heads. "Man, these tokens' got attitude, and they ain't afraid to show it. I'll also play another face-down before letting you go."

"Good. I'll draw, then summon Ancient Gear Soldier in Attack Mode! I'll get all 3 of my monsters to destroy 3 of your...'Joey' Tokens." Joey watched 3 of his 4 Tokens shatter.

"I still got one Joey left! I'm alright..."

"I'll end it there. Next turn, you're in for a surprise."

"Yeah? How so? I'll Set a monster in Defence Mode, and set a face-down. You go."

"Should have acted when you had the chance, Joey Wheeler...now you're in for it. First, I'll summon and tribute my Ancient Gear Cannon, to inflict 500 points of damage to your Life Points."

Joey was hit by a cannon ball. "Agh!"

"Then I'll activate Polymerization to fuse my 3 monsters to summon...Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!"

Joey stumbled. "Aww, man! That guy looks huge!"

Outside of the duel, Yami and Kaiba saw a metal figure rise up, breaking the roof. "Kaiba, what is that thing?!" Yami asked.

"I recognise it...it's Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem. Wheeler's in trouble now."

"He'll get through it. I know he will."

Joey saw the Golem and stood up. He heard Doddison begin to speak. "You'll love his ability."

"I doubt it."

"Oh, you will. If this monster attacks a Defence Mode monster, the owner of the Defence Mode monster still takes damage."

"What?"

"Which means you're wide open...when I attack your Token, you're in for it! Think of what you'll lose...your friends, your life, your sister..."

"You leave Serenity alone!"

"Shame you won't be around to help her when I'm done."

"You psycho! I won't let you win!"

"Oh really? Because from the looks of things, I already have. Do you realise that now, Joey Wheeler? Do you realise you cannot win?"

Joey shook on the spot, and began to stare at the floor. If Doddison attacked either one of his monsters now, he was finished. Was it all over for him?


	7. Heavy Metal! Part 2

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_If you were injured at work or in a card game and it wasn't your fault, call the professionals. Call the Duel Monsters Helpline and receive 100% compensation for your accident. Eheh...anyway, back to the duel._

"Joey! Joey, can you hear me?" Yami continued to bash the rock, in the vain hope his friend could hear him. He tried everything. Kicks, punches, even trying to smash the debris with his Dark Magician. Some outside force was preventing him from getting to Joey. Yami sat down against the rock. "I know something is blocking us from getting to Joey. I just know it." He stood up again. "Joey!"

"Give it a rest, Yugi. He can't hear you. He has to fight this battle for himself." Kaiba leaned against a wall. "He can't always have you to support him."

"So that's it? We leave him? Leave him there to be crushed by that Golem? I won't let that happen!"

"He'll be fine. Doddison's a lowlife. He came up as one of Shadow Corporation's top employees." Kaiba folded his arms.

"How do you know this?" Yami faced Kaiba.

"What do you think I did on my month away? Play table tennis?"

"Oh...did you learn anything else?"

They were interrupted by a large smashing noise coming from behind the debris separating them from the duel.

"Joey!" Yami went back to smashing on the rock.

"Wheeler's fine, Yugi!" Kaiba held Yami away from the rock.

"I hope so..."

**Joey stood still **as Doddison laughed it up on his side of the field. "Face it, Joey Wheeler, you've lost! I'll get my Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem to -"

"Hold it right there, wise guy! You think I'm gonna go down easy? Well, you're wrong! You set off my Trap Card, Threatening Roar!" As he spoke, a shockwave hurtled towards Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem, distracting it from the attack. Joey punched the air. "Let's see your big bad golem try and get at me now!"

"Fine. Your move, Joey Wheeler." Doddison sighed.

"Thank you, Doddison. I'll draw!" Joey drew a card. He thought to himself, 'Man, I gotta save this game if I even have a chance of saving Serenity...I know she's believing in me right now, she did in Battle City. I won't let her down. I can't let her down. I'm gonna win this, I know it! At least, I think I do...' Joey looked at his new card. "Alright! It's my Red-Eyes! And I got two monsters on my field! Perfect!"

"Perfect? Really, Joey Wheeler? You think you can win this?" Doddison began to chuckle. He thought to himself, 'If he thinks he can overpower my Golem, he is surely mistaken. Nothing has ever beaten my Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!'

"Yeah, and I'll show you how! I'll tribute my Joey Token and my face-down to summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Joey's signature monster appeared before him, rage in its eyes.

"Ahah! Watch my Golem smite that overrated reptile!"

"Excuse me, Doddison! I ain't finished! Now, I'll equip it with a card I borrowed from Kaiba - Megamorph!"

"Oh no!"

"Yep. And now, I'll activate Monster Reborn to bring back the monster I just tributed, Gearfried the Iron Knight!"

"Uh..."

"And I'm still not done! I'll pay 800 Life Points to activate Premature Burial, to bring back my old buddy...Jinzo!"

"Oh no! But now -" Doddison trembled.

"Yeah, that's right. Go, Red-Eyes, smash up his Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem!" Joey pointed at the giant metal figure, and smiled as his dragon's blast left a red-hot hole in the Golem. It shattered piece by piece to the floor, and came down with a bang. Yami and Kaiba lost their balance when it landed.

"What was that?" Yami landed on the debris.

"My guess? Wheeler just destroyed Ultimate Ancient Gear Golem." Kaiba stood up straight again.

"I knew you could do it, Joey." Yami smiled.

"And now, Jinzo and Gearfried, attack Doddison directly!"

"No! You'll never see your sister again, Wheeler! None of you will ever escape this place!" Doddison fell to the floor as his cloak nearly caught on fire. Joey ran towards him.

"How do I get to my sister once I use the teleporter? Tell me!" Joey shook Doddison.

"Take a left...use the stairs down to the basement...we keep them in the basement..." Doddison fainted. The debris behind Joey crumbled, and he saw Yami and Kaiba approaching him, with Yami waving his arms at great speed.

"Well done, Joey! I knew you could do it." Yami smiled.

"Yeah, great job...I could've done it better..." Kaiba smirked.

"Agh, shut it! We can get to the teleporter now, at least. Only, did you notice the numbers on the top of it?" Joey pointed at the teleporter.

"Yes...what do you think they could mean?" Yami put his hands in his pockets.

Kaiba walked up the steps and studied the numbers. "It's a simple sum. Wheeler, you got a D+ on your test, why don't you do it? It's well within your ability."

"Fine! I can do this...uh...45 minus...21...is..."

"Time's a-wastin'." Kaiba smirked again.

"I got this! I'm workin' on it...24! It's 24!"

"What does that mean?" asked Yami.

"Maybe it's to do with the Levels on monster cards?" suggested Joey.

"Well, that wall needed taking down with monsters. If we each use our 8 star monsters, we should get up enough force to unlock the teleporter. Kaiba, you use your Blue-Eyes. I'll summon my Magician of Black Chaos -" Yami was interrupted by Joey.

"You still got that, Yugi?"

"Yes. I could never leave him behind. Anyway, Joey, you summon Gilford the Lightning. Got that?"

Kaiba and Joey nodded. Kaiba started up his duel disk. "I summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

Yami played a card to create a pot in front of him. "I'll place the Obnoxious Celtic Guard and King's Knight to summon the Magician of Black Chaos!"

The two monsters appeared and were instantly sucked into the mixing pot. There was some smoke, and eventually out came the figure of the Magician of Black Chaos. It produced a staff, and held it ready to fire an attack from.

Joey played a card. "Come on out, Gilford the Lightning!"

They sent their monsters to attack. The attacks hit a purple shield, and eventually broke through and went through the teleporter. The machine sounded a siren, and subsequently short circuited due to the current created by Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon's White Lightning attack.

"Well, brilliant. Great job, Kaiba." Joey sighed and called back his monster.

Yami and Kaiba removed their cards, and Yami was sorting his deck when he noticed Alpha the Magnet Warrior. "Hey, Joey? You think my three Magnet Warriors could repair the machine?"

"Worth a shot. Try it out."

"I'll summon Alpha, Beta and Gamma the Magnet Warriors! And I'll tribute them to summon their ultimate form - Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!" A large machine appeared before him, and stood by him, awaiting an order. "Valkyrion, do you think you could repair that machine?" He pointed at the teleporter. Valkyrion nodded, and moved over to the machine.

The repair took quite a long time, as it turned out that the frame for the machine had burst, revealing the circuits. The short circuit could be repaired easily - the frame was what needed work. Valkyrion replaced the frame with parts of his own magnets, which nearly messed up the circuits entirely. It was only by using Spell Cards to stabilise the parts did they manage to get the repair done, after 2 hours. Joey stood up and tapped the timer. "We're down to just 18 hours, guys. Time flies when you're beating up henchmen trying to save family, doesn't it?"

Yami chuckled. "We're nearly there. Who wants to go first? Nice job, Valkyrion." Yami called back his monster. Kaiba stepped forward, kicking aside some debris. He stepped into the machine, and disappeared. "Kaiba!" Yami was startled. "That didn't seem to safe.

"Come on Yugi. It'll be fine. Let's go." Joey stepped in and disappeared too. Yami stepped in after them, and was zapped out of the fort.

**It was night **on Pegasus' island, and he, Mai Valentine and Bakura were in a duel against a masked figure.

"You may have destroyed my Toon World, but you'll have a tough time getting past our defences!" He, Mai and Bakura shared their remaining 1200 Life Points. The man had 3200 Life Points remaining.

"Will I? I doubt it. Watch this - Dark Hole! Activate!"

Bakura was startled. "Dark Hole? But you haven't summoned yet, so you can..."

"Attack you directly? Yes. And I will. I'll activate Shadow Summoning Ritual! I'll remove two monsters in my hand to summon -"

"Oh my...what is that?!" Mai trembled in fear.

"Your doom. Attack them directly!"

Pegasus took the full force of the hit, and Bakura hid behind Mai. But it was no use. Their Life Points were reduced to 0, and pretty soon they all collapsed from the severity of the hit. The man approached them. "They were no harder than the other 3. Kester, take the white-haired boy. Heaton? Deal with the girl. I'll take Pegasus." He picked up Pegasus' body, and chuckled. "The very creator of Duel Monsters, defeated by his own creation. This should be enough people to begin the true Ritual."

Kester widened his eyes. "You don't mean..."

"Yes. It's time to purify the world in the eyes of the Shadow."

"And what about the three pests?"

"Leave them. I'll deal with them soon. They, too, will be cleansed."


	8. Cloaked in Shadow! Part 1

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_I know. This has been going on for a while. Hope I've kept you gripped. Anyway, are you ready for a climax? I know I am. So, refill that mug and open up the digestives, because it's time to duel!_

Yami reappeared in a dark, empty room. There was a path leading outside, and Yami stepped out of the teleporter. He stumbled briefly, and he got a shiver all up his body. "Never going to get used to that…I wonder where Kaiba and Joey are." He brushed his sleeves off and followed the path outside. He was greeted by a dark day. Black clouds covered the once-beautiful sky, and it looked like it was preparing to rain. To the north of Yami was a large tower, much like the one he'd began this whole adventure by entering. He stepped into the tower, and saw Kaiba furiously trying to open a door.

"Open up! Open the door!" Kaiba kicked at the door. "Let me in!"

"Kaiba! What are you doing?" Yami held Kaiba back.

"Mokuba's in there! I can hear him Yugi!" Kaiba scrambled to get at the locked door again. "Mokuba! I'm here now! I'm here for you, Mokuba! Help him, Yugi!"

"I…don't hear anything." Yami looked puzzled.

"He's crying for me, Yugi! I need to get in there!" Kaiba looked desperate. "I'm here now, Mokuba!"

"Kaiba, it's another trick. It turns out this illusion isn't just visual. They're in your head, Kaiba. Ignore it, and follow me. We need to find Joey and discuss our next move." Yami walked his rival away from the door.

"I will rescue you, Mokuba…" Kaiba shut his eyes as he followed Yami.

After a while, they heard a voice crying out. It belonged to an older man, and was calling Yugi's name. Yugi's spirit appeared next to Yami and said "Grandpa! We need to get to him!"

Yami closed his eyes. "I never thought these people would be so corrupt and without morals. I suppose Joey will be kicking at a door for Serenity too. We need to find him." Yugi nodded, and disappeared.

They found Joey outside, digging through the ground. "I'm comin', sis! Just hang on! A few more minutes, and I'll be with you again, Serenity!" Yami touched his friend's shoulder. "What's up, Yugi?"

Yami explained the situation. Joey scratched his head. "So, you think these guys are in our heads, making us think we're close to our friends?" Yami nodded. "Wow, man, that's pretty messed up. What do we do?"

Kaiba raised his hand and pointed at the top of the tower. "Up there. That's where the boss must be. We go up there, and beat him until he sets them free."

Yami smiled. "A touch more violent than I'd like, but it's a good plan overall. Come on, Joey. It's time to rescue our friends." The three walked to the tower.

They had reached the first set of stairs before they heard a click. A window appeared, and what they saw was horrifying. They saw a van being unloaded, with three bodies inside. Yami gasped when he saw white hair. "That's Bakura!"

Joey nodded. "They got Mai too!"

Kaiba frowned. "And Pegasus…"

Joey shook. "Man, we don't have a chance, do we? Pretty soon, that's gonna be us, isn't it? We'll be fried like they were, and we'll be joining them, won't we? This whole business is crazy!"

Yami consoled Joey. "Don't worry. We will defeat this threat. For Kaiba's brother. For your sister. And for Yugi's grandfather, as well as for our friends and everybody else they've taken away. Rest assured, they won't get away with it."

"Hope you're right, Yugi. If you're not, we're in a heap of trouble."

The three continued up the stairs until they found another empty room. They walked in, and flames appeared on the walls around them. They saw a mixing pot of some kind, with three men stirring the contents. The men were wearing purple cloaks with hoods, to conceal the faces. "Hey, who are these guys? Seem familiar..." asked Joey.

The three men unmasked themselves. "Oh, no way! You three?" Joey was surprised.

"Recognise us, then? Even after you defeated us and abused us?" said Kester. "After you defiled us with your lack of respect for the Shadows?"

Doddison and Heaton nodded. "You beat us individually, but we wondered…what if we turned up the difficulty a little?" asked Heaton.

Kaiba stepped forward. "What are you proposing? A 3 on 3 duel? You're on, you psychopaths!"

Kester laughed. "Oh no…we have something much better in store for you three…see you upstairs, gentlemen." He disappeared, chuckling to himself. Doddison and Heaton soon followed, each chuckling as disturbingly as Kester was.

"What were those guys talkin' about?" Joey shrugged.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Yami frowned. "Let's go. Let us see what the added difficulty entails."

**The people of **Domino City went about their usual routines, buying things, commuting, the normal. They hardly noticed the erratic weather systems above the tower. Little did they know of the impact those storms were about to have.

**The trio reached** the top of the tower, and were greeted by lightning clouds swarming overhead. Another pot stood in the middle of the room, and Kester, Doddison and Heaton were stood around it. "Greetings, gentlemen."

"Enough of your games, Kester! What's going on? Where's Mokuba?" Kaiba clenched his fist. "Tell me where he is, or I might be less polite!"

"Safe, for now. After all, you still have half an hour left." Kester pulled out another timer.

Joey jumped. "Half an hour?! Where'd the rest of the time go?" Joey scrambled for his timer, and Kester wasn't lying. The display showed 29 minutes 54 seconds, and Joey ran his hand through his hair in a stressed way.

"We cut off some of your time for breaking our machine earlier. Nice of you to fix it, though." Kester chuckled. "Very nice. Inventive. Never would've expected it. Still, you got a very significant penalty for such outrageous vandalism."

"That's not fair! You can't do that!" Joey was outraged.

"Our game, our rules." Heaton nodded in the background.

"You lyin', cheatin', kidnappin' freaks! We're gonna beat you up so bad you won't be able to forget us!" Joey waved his fist at Kester.

"Now now. You want to free your friends? You have to duel once more." Kester poured something into the pot.

"Show us the target, and we'll take it down. That's what we have been doing up to now, as you should be aware, Kester." Yami frowned.

"Very well…Master Jarius. The guests asked for you."

"Huh? Who's this Jarius creep?" Joey relaxed a little.

"I am Jarius!" A masked figure stepped forward, in a large purple cloak. Kester, Doddison and Heaton bowed as he walked past them. He walked straight up to Yami and sighed. "A Pharaoh…straight from Ancient Egypt. You would've been of so much use to me, you know? Imagine the power you must wield in that Puzzle of yours…" Yami placed his hand on the Millennium Puzzle. "I'm not going to take it. Oh no. I'm just going to drain it of all its energy so you'll just pop out of existence. As for the boy…he'll be dealt with like the others."

Jarius approached Kaiba. "The mighty CEO of KaibaCorp brought to his knees…again. If only you cared enough about your brother to protect him like you should, but no. You care too much about winning, and business, and profit to even look at him! Don't you?" Kaiba frowned, and gritted his teeth.

Jarius walked in front of Joey. "Ah, the one they call Wheeler. Yugi's loyal servant. You'll follow him anywhere, won't you? Even into something beyond what you could possibly imagine…your bravery is admirable, Joey Wheeler. Shame it'll all be a waste…you cannot possibly best me." Jarius chuckled, then approached the mixing pot.

Kaiba stomped on the ground. "I've heard enough! Set Mokuba and the others free, right now, Jarius!"

Jarius just laughed. "Or what? You can't hurt me."

"Maybe not now, but soon, when we've beaten you up in this game, we all can and will until you free Mokuba and the others!"

"Who's 'we'? In a few minutes, nobody will be left to help you."

"What?"

"We need only to give our life force to complete the Ritual."

"What are you babbling about?"

Just then, the storm clouds erupted in a shadowy fireball. Yami, Kaiba and Joey ran to the edge to see the eruption strike the Earth beneath them. "You monster! You're destroying innocents!" Yami gritted his teeth at Jarius. "This isn't their problem, Jarius!"

"Innocents? They're far from innocent. They're being purified. It's all their fault. They've broken the world. Now, they must be fixed."

"By what?"

"The Shadows. The Darkness. The world will be cleansed, gentlemen! You cannot stop it."

Joey ran towards Jarius, and stopped in front of him. "Oh yeah? Well, watch us! We'll stop you and your cronies! We'll save everybody, because nobody can stop us from beating you up!"

"Exactly. Nobody is left to stop you."

"What's that meant to mean?"

"We seven are all that's left of the human race right now."

"What? What've you done to everybody else?"

"They're being purified. Their souls are being used to rebuild the world in our image!"

Kaiba stood next to Joey. "You pathetic little man! You can't do this! I won't let you!"

Yami stood next to him. "We won't let you get away with this, Jarius!"

"Oh yeah? How do you plan to stop us?"

Yami, Kaiba and Joey initiated their duel disks. "Just like we beat up your little friends over there!" Joey pointed to the pot, where Kester, Doddison and Heaton once stood. "Hey, where are they anyway?"

"It was their time. Now, all I need to do is take you three." Jarius produced a duel disk from the shadows surrounding the tower.

"You…betrayed them?" Joey looked horrified.

"They gave their souls to support the Shadows! That's what they wanted!"

"You don't always get what you want! And we're about to give you a lesson in that! It's time to stop you and your sick games!" Kaiba clenched his fist.

"Alright. You're on. On one condition."

"What is it now, Jarius?" Kaiba frowned.

"You three have to play as one."

"We were doing that anyway." Yami looked puzzled.

"As in, you three share a field and 4000 Life Points, and I'll have a field and 4000 Life Points. Fair?"

"Ugh, I suppose…fine." Kaiba looked hesitant.

"Well, who's going first?" Jarius tapped his duel disk.

"I'll start things off!" Kaiba drew a card and added it to his five. "I'll summon Battle Ox, in Attack Mode! And I'll set a card before passing on."

"I'll go next!" Yami drew a card. "I summon Maha Vailo in Attack Mode! I, too, shall set a card before ending my turn."

"Impressive moves, you two. Shame they'll be for nothing. I draw." Jarius examined his hand. "I summon Dark Jeroid, and I'll activate its special ability! Dark Jeroid, reduce Battle Ox's attack by 800!" Battle Ox trembled, and a shadow consumed it. Kaiba watched his monster's strength fall. It's Attack dropped to 900.

"No! My Ox!"

"I'll set two cards and leave it there."

"Nice move, I'll give you that. Just not nice enough to beat Joey Wheeler!" Joey drew a card. "Come on out, Axe Raider! And I'll back him up with a face-down, before passing on to my buddy Kaiba!" Joey smiled at Kaiba.

"I'm not your 'buddy', Wheeler!" Kaiba frowned at Joey as he drew. "My Battle Ox seems to be in a bad way, so I'll switch him to Defence Mode and summon La Jinn the Mystical Genie of the Lamp! La Jinn, attack Dark Jeroid!"

"Not so fast, Seto! I'll activate my Trap…Nightmare Mirror!"

"What?"

"Your attack is negated, and you lose 1000 Life Points!"

"No!" Kaiba felt the attack hit his body. He saw his duel disk's counter fall to 3000.

"Now I must discard one card, but it was worth it." Jarius smiled.

"You twisted psycho! Don't worry, Kaiba. We can do this." Joey smiled at Kaiba.

"I'll end my turn." Kaiba stood up straight.

"My move!" Yami drew again. "I'll activate Polymerization to summon Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast!" The monster flew down from above him. "Attack and destroy his Dark Jeroid!"

"Again, you fell for my Trap Card. Nightmare Wheel! I'll target your Chimera - now it cannot attack or change itself into Defence Mode."

"No!"

"Just end your turn, please."

"I'll leave it there, then."

"Ahah! Now I draw! And you lose 500 Life Points!" Jarius laughed.

"What? Why?" Yami looked puzzled.

"For every one of my Standby Phases that Nightmare Wheel remains in play, you lose 500 Life Points."

"No!"

"That's no fair!" Joey waved his fist at Jarius.

"Oh but it is…fair enough for me!" Jarius laughed.

Kaiba watched his Life Points fall to 2500. "Why don't you try and attack us, instead of hiding behind traps, Jarius?"

"Where's the fun in just bashing things out, when you can torture your opponent into submission?" Jarius smiled maniacally.

"You're insane! This is outrageous. We won't let you win, Jarius!" Kaiba clenched his fist again.

"You might not let me, but I still will. And there's nothing you can do to prevent the world from being cleansed! Soon, you three will join the rest of the world's former inhabitants in the purification ritual, and you will see things my way. Soon, you shall bow to the might of the Shadow!"

Yami gritted his teeth. How could he, Kaiba and Joey defeat an opponent that found so many ways of just bleeding them dry of Life Points? He guessed that it would've been tough, but not this tough! What could they do? Their friends and family were counting on them, as was everybody else in the world! They couldn't fail…but would they have a choice?


	9. Cloaked in Shadow! Part 2

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_Epic stuff, right? I agree. So, let's continue. However, I should tell you that this chapter is probably going to be slightly shorter than the others. Only by a few hundred words. Nothing too much. Go on, the duel's still on!_

"What makes you think you can win? Nothing you have in your decks of cards can stop the untapped power the Shadow possesses!"

Yami frowned. "That's where you're wrong, Jarius! So long as us three work together, your Shadow doesn't stand a chance!"

Jarius chuckled. He stared at the floor, and become more maniacal as a crack appeared. Shadows came pouring out, and surrounded the duel. They built up behind Jarius, who began to speak. "Don't you see? The souls of the departed are with me. Even your loved ones..."

Kaiba gasped as he saw a small image of Mokuba. "Mokuba! Come here! Mokuba!" He ran for the spirit, but Yami and Joey grabbed him as he nearly fell into the chasm. "Kaiba! Be careful!"

"Seto! Help! I'm scared..."

Kaiba frowned. "You sicken me, Jarius! How could you do that to an innocent child? You're a monster, and nothing more!"

"As opposed to you, Seto Kaiba? You never cared for your brother. You used him to get at Gozaburo, didn't you?" Jarius smirked as Kaiba's eyes widened.

"How did you hear about that?" Kaiba looked disturbed. The only people who knew about that were Gozaburo himself, his stepbrother Noah, and the Big Five. What was Jarius doing to learn so much about them? Kaiba clenched his fist and shut his eyes.

"I know everything about all of you, gentlemen. Know your enemy, they say. And I know all of you like we've been speaking for years." Jarius laughed.

Joey turned around as he saw Serenity float past him. He heard her voice. "Big brother! Help me! I don't like it here...it's so cold. I'm so alone. Joey, help me!"

"I'll save you, sis! I know it! Nothing messes with Joey Wheeler, and nobody touches my sister!" Joey gritted his teeth at Jarius.

Just then, the other souls appeared. Solomon, Bakura, Duke, Mai, Pegasus, even the Ishtars. They all cried out for the three heroes. "Save us! Help!"

Yami gasped. "How did they get to Marik, Odion and Ishizu too?"

Jarius smiled. "We have allies all over the world. They were no problem. Marik was a slight issue, but even he couldn't best Kester."

The voices continued to drone past the three heroes. Rebecca and Professor Hawkins appeared, along with Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, even Mako Tsunami. Somehow, they had taken everybody they had ever met, and more innocent souls were being taken by the second.

Joey covered his ears. "Stop it! I can't take it!"

Yami consoled his friend. "We will save them, Joey. I promise."

Kaiba frowned. "We will save them, so long as I have any say in it."

Jarius laughed. "Trust me, Seto Kaiba. Soon enough, you won't." He laughed as the shadows entered his body, and his eyes went black. "I'll guarantee it."

"Can you guarantee that if you keep talkin' like such a freak, I'm gonna stop you havin' a say in anythin'?" Joey waved his fist.

"I'll summon Melchid the Four-Face Beast in Attack Mode. Go, Melchid, destroy Battle Ox!" Kaiba covered his face as his monster was destroyed. "I'll set three cards. That is all."

"You think you got us down? I doubt it! I draw!" Joey drew a card. "I'll set a card, then I'll get Axe Raider to destroy your Melchid!" Axe Raider's axe smashed straight through the Four-Face Beast. "Alright!"

Kaiba drew. "I assume you're done, Wheeler. It would be nice if you said so. I'll tribute my Genie and Yugi's Chimera to summon my first Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" The Nightmare Wheel was shattered, and Yami sighed.

"It was worth it. Good move, Kaiba."

"I know." Kaiba sniggered. "Blue-Eyes, attack Dark Jeroid!" Again, the attack went through successfully, draining Jarius down to 2000 Life Points. "And, since we all share a field, I can declare an attack with Maha Vailo as well!"

"No you can't."

"Huh?" Kaiba clenched his fist.

"Only the monster's summoner can declare an attack with it, unless a Spell or Trap Card declares otherwise." Jarius looked smug.

"Fine. Yugi's next anyway. You go."

Yami nodded. "I must carry on the momentum. I'll tribute my Maha Vailo to summon Summoned Skull! Attack him directly!"

"I'll activate Nutrient Z, to give me 4000 extra Life Points before your attack hits me. Now, instead of losing Life Points, I gain 1500 to 3500 Life Points. Thank you, Atem."

"How did you know that was my real name?" Yami looked terrified.

"I've studied you three very closely. You see, I knew you three were going to become pests, and you would attempt to throw a spanner in the works of my plan." Jarius laughed. "So I set about sending my henchmen after you. As I expected, you fought them off, and in brilliant fashion if I may say so. I could've just had you taken then and there, but I decided it would be more satisfying to hear you surrender to the Shadows in person. Think…the top three duelists in the world admitting they can't win. It'll be spectacular."

Joey frowned. "Man, you're such a stalker. I'm slightly freaked out."

Jarius tapped his duel disk. "Can I go now?"

"I suppose. I'll set a card and end it there." Yami shut his eyes in disappointment. He thought to himself, 'I could've done so much more...I hope I haven't ruined the duel for us all...ruined the chance to save Yugi's grandfather, Kaiba's brother and Joey's sister, as well as all of their friends. I may have no real stake in this duel, but Yugi does, as do Kaiba and Joey. That's a good enough reason for me to fight my hardest.'

"Excellent. I'll summon a monster in Defence Mode, and set a card. I'll also activate Hand Collapse, forcing us all to discard two cards. And I'll chain Macro Cosmos to that, forcing any card that goes to the Graveyard to be removed from play instead. And now I'll activate my final card…Soul Absorption!" They all discarded two cards., meaning Jarius gained 4000 Life Points. "I'll set a card and leave it at that."

"7500 Life Points?! Man...I'll draw." Joey drew. "Alright! Perfect! Yugi, mind if I borrow your Summoned Skull?"

Yami gave a thumbs-up. "Is this going where I think it is?"

Joey nodded and winked. "Probably. I'll activate Polymerization! Come on out, Black Skull Dragon!" His Red-Eyes Black Dragon combined with Yami's Summoned Skull on the field, and the Fiend was replaced with a skeletal dragon. 'Go on! Attack his face-down!"

The blast pounded straight through the card, destroying it entirely. "Now, Axe Raider, attack Jarius directly!" Jarius merely blinked.

"A necessary loss."

Kaiba drew. "I'll summon my Lord of Dragons to protect my Blue-Eyes and the Black Skull Dragon from any face-downs there. Alright, Blue-Eyes, attack Jarius!"

"Ahah. Only from being targeted by Spells and Traps! So, my Mirror Wall should protect me well enough."

"You still lose 1500 Life Points."

"Ah well." He motioned towards Yami.

"I'll activate The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh to special summon a Kuriboh in Attack Mode! And I'll tribute it to summon my Dark Magician Girl! I'll activate Sage's Stone to special summon my Dark Magician alongside her!" Yami smiled. "Attack!"

"My Mirror Wall is still in effect, so I only take 2250 points of damage." Jarius chuckled. "I have just enough Life Points left."

"For what?"

"Your doom, gentlemen!" Jarius began to cackle.

Joey trembled. 'What is this guy goin' on about? This ain't good...' He stopped thinking to himself, and started speaking. "What are you talkin' 'bout, Jarius?"

"You'll see."

Yami sighed. "I'll end my turn."

"Ahaha...I activate...Shadow Summoning Ritual!"

Yami, Kaiba and Joey stepped back. They'd never heard of this before.

"I'll pay 2000 Life Points, as well as sacrificing monsters from my hand to raise a monster like none of you have ever conceived. Come on out...Shadow Darklord Dragon!" Jarius' eyes widened as his signature monster appeared.

"What is that?!" Joey looked surprised.

"You'll find out what it is and what it can do very shortly..." Jarius laughed. His cackle ran through Yami's head over and over. How could they win against an enemy they knew nothing about? Sure, Jarius only had 50 Life Points left, but it seemed that was all he needed...


	10. Cloaked in Shadow! Part 3

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own anything to do with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise at all. No characters, no cards, no places, nothing. All credit goes to Kazuki Takahashi and Konami.**

_Well, this is the end, huh? Hasn't it been a blast? We've built a tower, beaten up some henchmen, smashed a wall with Duel Monsters cards, teleported, watched humanity disappear and see the Shadows gather. Pretty epic, I'd say. All on a time limit too. Anyway, let's end this._

"You cannot defeat my Shadow Darklord Dragon! Nothing can. Infinite Attack and Defence points. Nothing you have can stand against it."

Yami's eyes widened at the thought of infinite power. 'Just like my God Cards…we still have a chance.' He looked at his hand, and he was in luck. One of his God Cards was there. 'I just need Slifer and Obelisk…'

"Shadow Darklord Dragon, attack Blue-Eyes! Wipe out these fools forever!"

Kaiba covered his eyes. He waited for an impact, but it never came. He opened his eyes, to see Joey had activated a Trap. "I'd like to see you try and attack when I activate my Threatening Roar, scaring off your big creepy Dragon!"

"Curses! You fool! You only delay the inevitable. Fine. Make your move. You cannot win."

Joey laughed. "I beg to differ. I'll pass, though. I'm sure my buddies have a plan." Joey winked at Yami. He'd worked out the God Card strategy as well. Yami sighed. He had to get the right draws.

Kaiba smiled. "Actually, I do. I'll activate Polymerization to summon my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" His best monster replaced his Blue-Eyes, and he nodded to Yami. "You go."

Yami sighed and drew. He was in luck. Return from the Different Dimension. "I'll set a card, before tributing my two Magicians and Kaiba's Lord of Dragons to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra, and to create two spaces on our field." Kaiba looked shocked.

"Did I ask you to sacrifice my Lord of Dragons? Now my Blue-Eyes and Wheeler's Skull Dragon are vulnerable! What are you thinking of?"

"If it works, a way to win."

"I hope so…"

Jarius laughed. "You achieved nothing, gentlemen. You wasted your time. Now, Shadow Darklord Dragon! Attack the Winged Dragon of Ra! And I'll activate Solemn Wishes just in case."

Yami smiled. "I knew you would do that. The chance to destroy an Egyptian God just tempted you too much. And now, you'll regret it. I'll activate my Trap Card, Return from the Different Dimension!"

"What do you hope to summon?"

"With any luck, my other two Egyptian Gods!" Sure enough, Obelisk and Slifer appeared. "See, Jarius, when you forced us to remove two cards from play, I thought ahead. I chose my two God Cards so I could pull this off later on. And now, I'll merge my three Gods to give them infinite Attack Points! And since Ra is still considered to be in play via this effect, your attack is still directed to the Gods!" Jarius trembled. "Infinite Attack versus Infinite Attack, Jarius! It's a dead match, only I still have one advantage - more monsters! I may not be able to command Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and Black Skull Dragon to attack yet, but I can summon some monsters with this - Burial from a Different Dimension! I can add Dark Magician, Dark Magician Girl, and Blue-Eyes White Dragon to their respective Graveyards. And I can summon Dark Magician back to the field with Miraculous Rebirth! Solemn Wishes, Return from the Different Dimension, and Burial from a Different Dimension all created a chain, meaning this could be activated. Come forth, my Dark Magician!"

Yami's favourite monster appeared before him. "Dark Magician, attack Jarius directly! Dark Magic Attack!" The dark bolt headed straight past Shadow Darklord Dragon towards Jarius.

"No! This can't be! Nothing can defeat my Dragon! Nothing can defeat the Shadow!"

"Well, the power of unity can. Unity in my three Egyptian Gods who have matched your Shadow Darklord Dragon, providing a distraction for my Dark Magician to attack!" Yami, Kaiba and Joey covered their eyes as the Gods defeated the Shadow, and Dark Magician's bolt hit Jarius directly, dropping his Life Points to zero.

"Alright! Way to go, Yugi! You're the man!" Joey high-fived Yami.

"Yeah…I could've done it better." Kaiba smirked.

"No…I failed…this can't be…" Shadows appeared around Jarius, and Kaiba grabbed him. "Where's Mokuba?"

"Take me, Shadows…"

"Where's Mokuba?"

"Follow the shadows…" Jarius then shut his eyes and went limp. Kaiba dropped him and ran for the back of the room. He felt around for an entrance. "Mokuba? Mokuba?"

Joey put his hand in his pocket and froze. The timer! "Guys, we got a minute left!"

Kaiba hammered on the wall. "Mokuba! Mokuba! I'm here!"

Yami still had his disk on, with Dark Magician on the panel. "Dark Magician, attack the wall! Dark Magic Attack!"

The bolt hit the wall and shattered the illusion. They were in a cell room, surrounded by the bodies of their friends and other innocents. "Man, do you think they're…"

"Don't say that, Wheeler!" Kaiba refused to even think Mokuba could be gone forever.

"Well, the timer's ticked down to zero."

"They must've been bluffing. The monsters!" Kaiba kicked a wall.

All of a sudden, one of them started to move. 'I think it's time for you to take over now, Yugi.' thought Yami.

The spirit of Yugi nodded. 'You've done well today, Pharaoh.' A beam of light appeared, and when it dissipated Yugi stood where Yami had done.

The body was of Solomon. "Yugi?..my grandson's here…I believed it you." Solomon smiled. Joey smashed open the cage and picked up Solomon. "We gotta find the others!" They ran down the corridor, looking for their friends. They saw an open door, and found their friends struggling to walk around.

Tristan rubbed his head. "How long were we out? Feel like I haven't moved in years…"

Tea blinked forcefully. "It's so bright…hey, look! It's Yugi!" She ran to hug him.

Joey high-fived Tristan. "Need help with that, pal?" asked Tristan.

"Nah, I got this. Hey…where's my sister?"

"And where's Mokuba?"

Tristan looked around. "I didn't see them anywhere."

Yugi and Kaiba looked at each other. "They're still inside! Joey, stay here! I'll go with Kaiba!"

Joey nodded. "You go, Yugi. Hurry up!"

Kaiba and Yugi ran through every corridor, looking for Serenity and Mokuba. They checked every cage - the people had already left. Eventually, they found a locked door. "Hey, didn't we leave through here? It's where my Grandpa was." Yugi pointed at the door.

"It's been locked. Stand back." Kaiba stepped back and kicked the door firmly. It opened as if it hadn't been locked. "Mokuba!"

They saw the two bodies in the corner. Yugi grabbed Mokuba.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Kaiba looked puzzled.

"Well, I can't lift Serenity, can I?"

"Fine. I'll take her." Kaiba looked disappointed.

They were leaving when the door shut itself behind Yugi. Kaiba and Serenity were stuck inside. "Yugi! Open up!"

"I can't! It's sealed with some sort of spell…I'll get Mokuba to Joey and the others, and I'll bring Joey and Tristan to help! You'll be fine!"

"Curse you, Yugi!" Kaiba placed Serenity down. He sat next to her body and sighed.

**Eventually, Serenity woke** up. "Huh…Joey?" she looked around.

"No, just me." Kaiba looked at her.

"Seto? Well, could be worse. Could be Tristan." Serenity smiled.

Kaiba chuckled. "Wheeler's with the rest of them. Yugi's gone getting them."

"Who's 'them'?"

"The only one I care about is Mokuba." Kaiba pulled a drawing out from his pocket.

"What's that?"

Kaiba sighed. "It's the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card Mokuba made for me years ago, when we still lived with Gozaburo."

Serenity moved closer to see it. "He must really care about you."

Kaiba smiled. "Yeah. And I care for him. He's all I have nowadays. I'd do anything for him…I have done anything for him…"

Serenity poked Kaiba and smiled. "See, I knew you could be nice."

Kaiba smiled, then shook his head. "I do what's necessary." He shuffled away from Serenity.

They sat in silence for what felt like hours, until Serenity spoke.

"It's cold down here."

"I know. Better than being surrounded with the souls of the taken, though."

"I'm cold."

"Yeah, I got that."

"Could you…lend me your coat?"

Kaiba looked startled. "You want me to give you a KaibaCorp signature piece of merchandise? It isn't even merchandise, it's custom-made for me. I'm not just giving it away!"

Serenity sighed. "Okay…I see…"

Kaiba looked away, but kept glancing at her. She seemed so sad and lonely. "Oh, fine, take it." He took it off and threw it to her.

"Thank you, Seto." Serenity smiled and put it on. "This is really heavy…what's this?" She took something out of a pocket.

"No! Put that back!" Kaiba ran over.

"And this, and this…"

"Put those back! They're personal!"

"There's loads of paper…"

"Private paper, I might add!"

Serenity giggled and put them back. She poked Kaiba's chest and smiled. "Fine, I'll put them away. Has Seto got some secrets?" She giggled again.

"Maybe I have! Nothing to do with you or your friends." He walked back and sat down.

Serenity shuffled up next to him. "I wish you'd talk more. It gets boring sitting here in silence."

"You're fine. Deal with it." Kaiba shut his eyes.

**Yugi had just **met up with Joey and the others. "Hey, Yugi! Where's Kaiba and Serenity?"

"They got locked in the room where we found my Grandpa and Mokuba. I need you and Tristan to come help kick it in."

"No problem. Tea, stay here with Yugi's Grandpa and Mokuba please. Me and Tristan got a bit of knockin' to do!"

Tea nodded. "Good luck with your sister, Joey!" She looked down at the two bodies. "Well, this is interesting."

**Kaiba had run **out of space to shuffle away from Serenity in. She was persistent, he'd give her that. "What do you want now?"

"To talk to you. You must be lonely a lot nowadays." Serenity shuffled closer.

"It doesn't bother me. You get used to it."

"But surely you want somebody to talk to occasionally?" Serenity tilted her head.

Kaiba looked at her. He stared for about 10 seconds before realising a conversation ran on people replying to each other. "Oh, no…not really."

"Come on…let me see the real Seto Kaiba."

"Nobody gets to see the 'real Seto Kaiba'! Not even Mokuba. I can't get emotional in front of him. I have to be tough. I have to support him…he's only a child." Kaiba shut his eyes again.

"You don't. I count on my big brother a lot, but he's still emotional in front of me. I like it, strangely enough. Reminds me that even though he's my hero and he's always watching out for me, he's still human." Serenity smiled. "I bet some people could use reminding you're human." She giggled.

"They wouldn't care. When they see me, they see KaibaCorp. Not Seto Kaiba. I'm the second-best to Yugi Muto. I'm second-best to everybody now…except Mokuba."

"I don't think you're second-best."

"What?"

"Just because Yugi beats you in a duel doesn't make you less of a person. I think that, underneath this cold exterior, is a warm, gentle person. Am I right, Seto?"

"No. You couldn't be more wrong."

"Oh, I'm right."

"No."

Serenity smiled and sat in front of Kaiba. She poked his chest again. "Yes." She giggled.

Kaiba pushed Serenity's arm away. "No, you're wrong."

Serenity poked Kaiba again and giggled. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"Stop that."

"I'm right!" Serenity smiled again.

"Stop being happy."

"You should smile more."

"No I shouldn't." Kaiba shut his eyes and tried not to smile.

Serenity shuffled close to him and lied down on his arm. Kaiba stared at her in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Sleeping! Out there is a labyrinth of corridors. My brother could take hours! And the floor's not comfortable, so I'm using you! Problem?"

Kaiba thought for a moment. "Fine. Go ahead. Just don't have a nightmare."

Serenity closed her eyes. "Night night, Seto." she muttered.

"Yeah, whatever." Kaiba looked around the room and sighed. He thought to himself, 'Hurry up, Wheeler.'

**Joey turned another** corner and looked down the corridor. He scratched his head. "You sure it was this way, Yugi?"

"Yes, I'm certain!" Yugi looked confused.

"Well, it's another dead-end." Tristan wandered down the corridor and touched the walls. All of a sudden, a bright beam of light shone in his face. "Agh! Joey! Yugi! Help!"

Yugi and Joey ran to him. The light was the spell cast on the door. Joey got his deck out. "I think I gotta Mystical Space Typhoon here somewhere…yeah. I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon on the door!" The light shattered and disappeared. Joey and Tristan smashed open the door and saw Kaiba and Serenity asleep in the corner.

"Serenity!" Joey ran to his sister.

Serenity woke up. "Huh…Joey? Joey!" she hugged her brother.

"Bet you're glad I'm here. Kaiba must've been a real bore." Joey laughed.

"No, actually. Seto's really…interesting…" Serenity stared at Kaiba, who woke up moments later.

"Yugi. Is Mokuba okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine, Kaiba. Thanks for keeping Joey's sister safe." Yugi smiled.

"I did what I had to. Can I have my coat back, please?" He opened his hand to Serenity.

"Oh yeah, thanks Seto." Serenity gave him his coat and smiled. She stared at him for a while.

"…what?" Kaiba looked puzzled.

Serenity stared for a bit longer and then ran and hugged Kaiba. She let go and ran out.

"Man, she sure is weird. Anyway, come on, guys. Who wants some pizza?" Joey smiled.

Yugi and Tristan raced each other behind him. Kaiba put his coat on and walked behind them. He thought about the hours he'd spent locked in that room, and smiled.

**The gang left** the tower, and met up in the town square. Tea was with Solomon and Mokuba, and waved at them. "Hey you guys! Hey!"

The gang ran to her and greeted her. Kaiba ran to Mokuba. "Mokuba…are you okay?"

"Yes. Thanks, big brother. You're the best." Mokuba smiled.

Kaiba smiled back, and noticed Serenity out of the corner of his eyes. He stopped smiling, and started thinking. He stood up straight, and walked towards her.

"Hey…uh…you still okay?" He seemed nervous.

"Yeah, I am. Thank you." Serenity smiled.

"Good, good…"

"You okay?"

"Oh yeah, me, I'm fine."

Serenity stared at Kaiba. "You want another, don't you?" She giggled and hugged him again. He felt his pockets afterwards. "Hey, you took Mokuba's card!"

Serenity held it up and giggled. Kaiba ran after her, shouting "Give me that!"

Serenity smiled. "Gotta hug me first."

"No."

"Well, you're not having it back then!"

"Ugh, fine…" He walked slowly towards her, and hesitated before hugging her. "Now can I have it back?"

"You have to mean it!"

"I did!"

Serenity giggled. "No, I know when somebody means it. Do it again, with feeling this time!"

Kaiba hugged her and held her tight. He imagined she was Mokuba, but eventually realised he didn't have to. He let go, and Serenity cleared her throat. She stared at him, before Kaiba spoke. "My card…"

"Oh yeah, take it…"

Kaiba coughed and put the card away. He thought for a while.

Serenity finally spoke. "I knew there was a soft side to you." She smiled at Kaiba, and he (albeit hesitantly) smiled back. They hugged again and stared into their eyes. Yugi and the rest of the gang were running towards them, and Kaiba panicked for a second. Luckily, they hadn't noticed. He realised that he was still hugging Serenity, and let go. He looked at her, and worried that he might have hurt her. She smiled at him, and whispered "I'm glad they didn't notice too. I don't want them to know yet." She walked off.

"Know what? What have you done?" Kaiba ran after her.

Serenity giggled. "You'll know soon enough." She poked his chest and grabbed his arm. "Come on, Seto!"

Kaiba was dragged along by her. Eventually, he walked with her and, as the sun set, Kaiba began to enjoy himself. As he stared at her, he finally knew. He smiled, and moved close to her.


End file.
